Schnuck Markets Bringing ‘Tally Effect’ To Half of Stores

Schnuck Markets is bringing Tally, the inventory-management robot from Simbe Robotics it first piloted in July 2017, to half of its stores.

Dave Steck, Schnucks VP of IT infrastructure and development, said the Tally’s use has resulted in 14 times more out-of-stock detection than manual auditing and at least 20% reduction in out-of-stock items.

It’s also increased accuracy of real-time inventory that feeds into Schnucks’ automated replenishment system, allowing for more efficient inventory management. (Associates refer to the benefits as “The Tally Effect,” according to the grocer.)

With access to real-time product location data through the Schnucks Rewards app, both associate restocking and consumer shopping trips are reportedly more efficient, as are ordering and replenishment.  

Tally robots traverse store aisles two to three times per day, capturing inventory for about 35,000 products per store with each traversal. This expansion, which will bring the bots to 62 of its 112 locations, will result in them scanning more than 4.2 million products per day.

“The amount of critical data and valuable insights that Tally continues to bring us from a select number of stores is immeasurable,” said Steck. “By expanding our partnership with Simbe and introducing Tally to more than half our stores, we will improve our in-stock position for our customers and free up our teams from tedious inventory-related tasks, allowing more focus on service. Improving our customer’s experiences has always been deeply important to us and is becoming even more critical to operations in a rapidly changing retail environment.”

Schnucks expanded Tally’s use to 16 stores in 2018.